This film was the product of a rare chemistry between virtual strangers. Though all of us involved take scene study classes at the same studio, several of us hadn’t met before we were assigned to a team as part of the yearly Babcock Studios Film Festival. Thus a group of actors set out to produce a ten-minute film in the competition’s three-week runtime with no crew outside of themselves.

In “The Grievance”, we wanted to tell a straightforward comedy story–any twists and turns in the plot are intended to be silly rather than profound. The lighthearted and fun energy on set helped to bring this tone through in the cast’s performances. In my direction, my goal was to encourage the playfulness of the other actors and channel it into every shot. By the time we wrapped on production, we knew that we had something special that could have a life outside of our studio’s private film festival.

- Arianna Labrado, Director